Turkey ambassador to India, Dr Burak Akcapar, called on Union Tourism Minister Dr K Chiranjeevi. During the meeting, Dr Akcapar raised the issue of enhancing air frequency for increasing tourist traffic between the two countries. He mentioned existing flights cannot cope with the demand.
Turkey is an important inbound tourist source market for India. During the year 2011 a total number of 17,329 tourists from Turkey visited India. Turkish Airlines is planning to spread their network in India with the possible code sharing with Air India. With an aim to attracting more tourists from Turkey the ministry is planning to carry out special promotions in the Turkish market this year. The Turkish ambassador suggested that the Ministry of Tourism and Turkish authorities perhaps can undertake joint promotion to increase two-way traffic between India and Turkey.
A Bilateral Tourism Cooperation Agreement between India and Turkey was signed on January 31, 1995 in Delhi. The agreement contains the provision for setting up a joint working group. The first meeting of the India-Turkey Joint Committee on Tourism was held in Ankara on May 27-28, 2002 and the second JWG meeting was held in New Delhi on November 23, 2006. The Ministry of Tourism proposes to convey third meeting after March 2013.